Villanova and Syracuse. A conference game since the early days of the Big East Conference. A basketball tradition that the Northeast has enjoyed for a few decades. Rollie and Boeheim, Wright and Boeheim, whoever was before Wright and Boeheim. But now this isn't a conference game anymore. It's just a regional rivalry in which Syracuse attempts to beat the best team from Philly. And this one is a match of two unbeaten teams.
Syracuse has one major advantage in this game and that is size and depth of players that can battle in the low post and in the paint. While Syracuse definitely derives most of it's scoring from the guards and CJ Fair, getting the ball to Christmas, Coleman, and Keita will be a major advantage if Syracuse can continue to attack in the paint and either score or draw lots of fouls (which is possible as Karl Hess will be on the floor). With Trevor Cooney being highly guarded, that should free space inside for passess from Ennis to any of the bigs inside and hopefully will produce some easy shots or fouls. Conversely, if Cooney can manage to get open he should hit some shots, which he couldn't really do last season against Villanova. While Villanova plays a four guard lineup, they only shoot from outside at a rate of about 32%, about what the SU perimeter defense is allowing anyway. That hopefully means that Villanova will only hit what most other teams are averaging, which favors Syracuse to pull ahead by allowing transition points off missed Villanova 3s. While the students aren't in town, there will be over 30,000 fans on hand, so the Dome will be loud when it needs to be. Regardless, that hasn't much mattered in playing Villanova over the years. Either way, Syracuse should have just enough in the tank to take out Villanova and stay undefeated. I'm picking the Orange by 5.
This game is available on national TV on CBS at 2:00pm. John's in the Dome and I'm in the home office. Should be a fun one. Enjoy the old school Big East flair with 2013 rules.